Igor Kaniecki | Joint Secretariat Interreg South Baltic Programme

SME internationalisation and innovation capacities in the South Baltic Programme Igor Kaniecki | Joint Secretariat Interreg South Baltic Programme

The INTERREG business

„Soft” cooperation for tangible results  building networks beyond regional and national borders  transferring experience, good practices and technologies  jointly developing and testing innovative solutions for common challenges

South Baltic Lead beneficiaries: 50 Partners: 435 Networks: 108 Approved projects: 69

Regional authorities: 10,1% Local authorities: 28,4% National authorities: 4,4% Academia/ research: 24,3% Public/private NGOs: 17,7% Others: 15,1%

“ Collaboration with MT LNG has allowed us to connect with other companies in the value chain and as a result this has created commercial opportunities as well as partnership discussions. MT LNG has done a great job in being the connective tissue between the different companies in the value chain. Cross-border LNG supply chain Project MarTech LNG The project delivered trainings on LNG technologies to increase capacities of about 100 SMEs related to maritime sector. More than 300 registered LNG businesses, research and regulative institutions created a strong South Baltic LNG supply chain.

Corporate Social Responsibility Project RespEn responsiblesme.eu CSR knowledge base: tools, guidances, and methodologies for SME Trainings and workshops for SME Success Stories

Cross-border perspectives for female entrepreneurs Project Going Abroad Applying the method of Business Success Teams for successful female entrepreneurship in the cross-border area

Triple helix cooperation Project DISKE diskeproject.eu Benchmarking of technology parks and developing strategies for the parks Cooperation strategies for the parks Park Quality Management Concept

South Baltic Programme overall objective To increase the blue and green growth potential of the South Baltic area through cross-border cooperation

Blue growth  Blue growth addresses the economic potential of the oceans, seas and coasts for sustainable tourism and growth  Blue Energy (OWE; tidal/ wave power)  Maritime, coastal and cruise tourism  Aquaculture  Marine biotechnology  Deep-sea and short-sea shipping  Coastal protection

Green growth  Green growth utilises natural resources in a sustainable manner, minimising the impacts on natural assets  Renewable energies  Food manufacturing and processing  Green/ eco tourism  Environmental management  Clean transportation and sustainable mobility  Green construction

Priority Axis 1 – EUR 9,97m EUR  1.1 The presence of blue and green SMEs from the South Baltic area on international markets  1.2 The transfer of innovation for the benefit of blue and green sector SMEs

Exemplary types of partners  chambers of commerce, business support organisations and development agencies business incubators, technology parks and other business support and finance organisations  formal associations, clusters and networks of SMEs (having legal personality)  NGOs and R&D organisations providing international promotion and marketing, research and services (e.g. training) or focused on innovation aspects  local and regional authorities and their associations Target group  SMEs representing blue and green sectors of economy

Specific features  concentration on blue & green SMEs;  emphasis on the cross-border elements: joint development, testing and transfer of innovative solutions, e.g. training programmes & other services; events; internet tools; cooperation & business models  indirect private sector involvement (no direct ERDF funding);  encouragement to address SME from rural areas.

Timeframe of the Programme  Oct 2015  final rules of the Programme to be approved  documents for the first call for proposal to be approved  Nov – Dec 2015 – 1st Call for proposals  May – Jun 2016 – 2nd Call for proposals (*) in the first stage of the Programme implementation 2 calls for proposals per year are expected

Thank you! Igor Kaniecki | Project Officer |